Remember With Reverence Fallen American Soldiers

May 25, 1985|By Mel Pearlman, Special to The Sentinel

On this Memorial Day weekend in the year of the 40th anniversary of V-E Day and the 10th anniversary of the military defeat of South Vietnam, as we remember and pay homage to our war dead, we should ask ourselves, ''What is an American soldier?''

Each of us has in one way or another been touched by the lives of American soldiers, who in every generation have served our nation.

Soldiers have existed for as long as humanity has been organized into communal societies. They are more than skilled warriors.

Throughout history they have been a means to a society's end.

They have protected their nations and made war against neighbors. They